Pursuit of Knowledge
by joie rider
Summary: All men in nature desire knowledge. Pitch desires to find out the truth of why he came to be- from a keeper of knowledge and facts herself. Post-movie. Beware of the OC.
1. Prologue

Why yes, I am borrowing Pitch and anyone else from Rise of the Guardians.

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_**"Knowledge is power." -Francis Bacon**_

He was so close. So _frustratingly _close. Everything was in his grasp; the children ruled by his nightmares, the guardians weak with little belief. He could have ruled the world with his reign of fear. All the humans would have _seen _him again. All ruined by a group of annoying brats and Jack Frost.

The cruel irony of it all stung like frostbite. (What a poor choice of words, Pitch thought as he seethed even more.) He clenched his fists. Brought down by his own fear. Bah, what reason was there for a Nightmare King if even the king of Nightmares was governed by fear? Why the hell did the Man in the Moon choose him?

He looked up to glare at where the moon would have glowed back at him through his lair's entrance- if it hadn't been sealed anyway. Even after his Nightmares turned on him and dragged him into his hole, the Guardians had decided he wasn't fit for the outside world anymore.

Well. He had and never will be able to fit into their ilk anyway. He growled and slammed his fist into a wall. The little cages that had imprisoned the baby Tooth Fairies above him shook from the force of it and a Nightmare scurried away. Good. At least could still instill fear in _something_.

His whole purpose was to cause that panic, make a being tremble in fright. And he was good at it. Wasn't the Man in the Moon satisfied with that? If that kind of job wasn't needed anymore, why was he still here? What was his purpose? Why can't he just disappear already? Pitch had asked him these exact questions so many times, screamed at the night sky, but no answer came. It burned at his ego, not knowing _why_.

But then he remembered. Alexandria's keepers. The knowledge, all the wisdom of the ages were at their disposal. And at his too, if he just requested it.

He stalked into the "den" of his lair and found an old book from a corner of his bookshelf. Just one phrase, and knowledge will be granted. What was it...?

"_I volunt discere_."

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Author Notes:

Okay. First fanfiction ever. Have mercy on my shameless perversion of the Rise of the Guardians movie. The plot bunny for this came from a head canon about Pitch's purpose that I read on Tumblr. And I just had to flesh out that idea more and more. And then this happened.

Anyway, real notes.

_I volunt discere-_ Latin for "I want to learn". Just got that translation from Google Translate so I don't know how credible that translation was. I feel like I should have used Greek instead but whatever.

And the "Alexandria's keepers" was just a really un-obvious allusion to the Ancient Library of Alexandria. Library. Knowledge. Kind of connected there...

My brain's just on a weird trip and I don't even know what I'm doing with this but please be nice. Constructive criticism anyone?


	2. Chapter 1

_**"Without knowledge action is useless and knowledge without action is futile." -Abu Bakr**_

My head shot up at the feeling of a ball dropping to the pit of my stomach. My eyes opened to the sight of bookcases.

Geez. Fell asleep in the library again.

I don't know why I'm still surprised at that. Libraries were centers where knowledge (still just information really) collected in the form of books. And I in fact, _am_ knowledge. Or at least, I'm one of many representatives for knowledge.

After rubbing the sand out of my eyes (thanks for doin' your job, Sandy), I glanced at my wristwatch. The numbers in the face glowed with 7:50 AM. Good. Still 'bout 2 hours till the library opened. Time to get a snack before any bookworm humans come in.

The humans. I forgot when I started addressing them that way, I thought as the chair scraped on the floor as I stood up. It wasn't that long since I became one of Alexandria's little keepers, was it? Almost half a century...? I shook my head at the memories trying to resurface. No, it's not self-pity time. It was "sneak a few goodies from the snack-stand" time.

I made sure to pick my backpack off the floor and push in my chair as I started out of the bookshelf I was in.

In the higher levels of the Seattle Central Library, it was easy to just get lost in all the shelves of books, art, and reading rooms. It was one of my favorite libraries anywhere in the world. What nerd wouldn't love a crystal palace for books? I sighed in content at all the books I passed by on my way to the escalators. I resisted the urge to make a detour through the Red Room in Level 4. The little café was on Level 3. I was still in Level 7.

My steps echoed as I made my way down one of the narrow escalator shaft things. I paused halfway down to look at my reflection in the plastic pane next to me. My short black A-cut managed to turn into a bird's nest. Pale, crusted drool stood out on the corner of my mouth against my tanned skin. Eyes were puffy under my glasses. Even my blue hood less zip-up was in disarray. And with one backpack strap carelessly slung over my shoulder, I looked like a college student who just woke up from an all-nighter. Ew. I combed my hair with my fingers, scrubbed the dried drool off with my sleeve, and straightened up my sweater. My vanity never took the backseat, even if I never looked that good in the first place.

Once off the unmoving escalator, I jogged toward the café cart. The whole level was illuminated by a few lights and the glass walls let in a bit of the sunrise. At least i'm not visible to cameras. Taking two pastries and a water bottle, I sat in one of the many empty couches as I ate. And just let my mind wander.

I haven't been requested for a long time. Not officially anyway, by the Guardians. I had those part time volunteer tutor jobs, but my _real_ job as providing information to a Guardian in need of it was practically non-existent. I was getting bored. I wonder if the keepers in the European division were being any more useful than I was...

Speaking of which, it was time to check the logs of other keepers. I lowered my backpack to the floor and dug through it. Because my bag was literally a bottomless pit for my stuff, it took me a while to pull out my large KnowledgeBook (such an original name), with my name- Pax- engraved in it. Ah, the facebook of the Knowledge Keepers. I dumped it onto the table in front of me and flipped it open to the most recent entries. A few facts given to Cupid, two to the Tooth Fairy, one to Jack Frost... Wait, he was an official Guardian now? Of all the options, the Man in the Moon chose that cold troublemaker? Hmph, any laughs that brat can get out of children must warrant Guardianship. Snow and ice is great the first few times, then it just gets annoying. At least to me. I don't benefit from having snow days.

I read the convos between some European keepers. Pitch returned? And was put back underground by Jack Frost? What?

This is what I get for not looking at the news for a long time. Really? All this happened in _my _divison and I didn't hear about it? Talk about being left out the loop. I huffed, slumped back into the couch, and shut the book.

Then I saw my name on the cover start pulsing with light. A request? I shot up in my seat to look at it. Yup, not a trick of the light. I grinned. Finally, someone who needs my counsel.

I stash my extra pastry and waterbottle into my bag then open the KnowledgeBook to the center page.

I wonder who it is, I think as I dive out of my chair into the book. As soon as I pass through the pages, I could just imagine it trailing after me to my destination with a POP!

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Author's Notes:

Ew. Just ew. I made an OC.

Super short bio on Pax. She's a keeper of information (of the North American division) for Alexandria; she collects info known by the humans in the world and info about the Guardians- which are stored in her KnowledgeBook. She was kind of inspired by the foxes who bring books to Wan Shi Tong's Library in Avatar: the Last Airbender. She serves a similar purpose to Alexandria as the Tooth Fairy's baby fairies. Except she spreads knowledge. Through tutoring humans at the local Sylvan learning center and answering questions put out by the Guardians. And yes, she was in Seattle. Mostly because I know some things as a Seattleite and for 2012, it's the smartest city in the US.

...Yeah, that was thought up on the fly.


End file.
